


Bliss

by thatsoccercoach



Series: Which Door? [48]
Category: Outlander & Related Fandoms
Genre: 100 percent fluffiness, Modern AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-01
Updated: 2018-05-01
Packaged: 2019-04-30 11:24:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14495898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatsoccercoach/pseuds/thatsoccercoach
Summary: Life isn't anything like they'd thought it would be.





	Bliss

                                                              

He came in quietly, hoping to observe her if only for a moment before he was spotted. His wife dealt with life with beauty and grace. Always. Every day brought new adventures, every day the unexpected happened. He had always prayed for this life but he knew that Claire hadn’t even known _how_ to dream those dreams. Watching her now made him feel complete, whole. It brought him such joy. There she was, his Sorcha, surrounded by the gorgeous chaos that was their life in that moment.

* * *

“Faith, Brianna? Mama has a new game for you, lovies!” she called to her oldest daughters, nestling Willa and Fergus on a soft blanket on the floor nearby. Little bare feet slapped on aged hardwood floors as the girls scampered in to her to see the new game. Bree skidded dangerously close to the newborns, purposely, Claire knew. She was testing the waters, that one. Faith slowed, getting down on her knees, and crawled to kiss both slumbering babes.

“Yep, Mama?” Bree threw her arms around Claire’s neck and gave her a rather sticky kiss. A kiss that Claire wouldn’t have traded for anything.

“Come sit here on the floor with Mama and I’ll show you our new game.” The girls settled on either side of her and looked at her face expectantly. She nearly laughed at their eagerness. Going from two children to four so suddenly had been quite a change, but she was absolutely loving the unexpected challenge. Creating joy out of chaos and games out of drudgery was a massive part of that challenge.

“You know how every sock in your dresser drawer has another one that goes along with it?” she asked them.

“Mine socks have friends,” Bree nodded at her.

“ _Pairs_ ,” Faith told her patiently. “The friends are called _pairs_.”

“Exactly!” Claire clapped her hands together to get their focus back on the “game” they were about to play. “So you see that right now, the socks don’t have pairs? They’re all over in these _five,_ ” she sighed, “loads of laundry. We’re going to race to see who can find the most pairs!”

Faith looked at her as if she knew exactly what was happening but Brianna was already on board. “One, two, free GO!” she shouted, nearly diving into the pile of laundry before them, performing a frantic search-and-rescue mission for friendless socks.

Claire had realized that they could get many things done that way. Faith and Brianna could easily fold towels and the endless supply of cloths they used to burp Fergus and Willa. They may not have been folded perfectly, but there was no reason they couldn’t help. After meals they could take their dishes and cups to the sink. Claire still had to rinse them, but that one step was taken care of. Bree had even stood at the sink on her stool yesterday and “played house” helping Claire wash baby bottles. When Lord John knocked over his dish of dry food the other day, Faith had scrambled for the tiny broom she kept in her pretend kitchen and Bree had held the dustpan. It may not have been as neat as Claire would have chosen had she done it herself, but her girls were learning and helping and working together. She hadn’t realized how lovely that would be to watch.

She had been surprised. Being a mother wasn’t at all what she thought it would be.

It was endless worry about everything from the past (could she have done more before Faith was born so she wouldn’t have been premature?) to the present (what could she do to protect Willa and Fergus if Faith or Bree brought home a cold from preschool?) to the future (if all their children decided to pursue a college education, how would they be able to financially support them?)

Being a mother meant sleepless nights. She thought that, as a nurse, she’d known what that meant. She’d been terribly wrong. Nursing your own ill child back to health through the night was nothing like being a doctor. Just the _normal_ sleepless nights of soothing an infant didn’t compare to any other type of sleeplessness. You couldn’t know a mother’s special type of sleepless night until _you_ were one _experiencing_ one.

Then there was the daily grind. The times it seemed like nothing would ever change and life was an endless cycle of nursing, burping, changing, laundry, and dishes, with sleep or showers thrown in only as windows of opportunity arose.

No, being a mother wasn’t what she thought it would be. It was far more _incredible_.

She’d never expected to feel this fulfilled doing things she had always thought were menial tasks. She begun to realize with Jamie that normal chores, done for those you love, took on new meaning. With her children it was completely new though and the intensity of it astonished her. She wanted to give them the best, to be the best version of herself. For them.

And the love she felt that she didn’t even have words for. When she’d first held Faith, skin to skin, close to her heart she thought she would shatter with emotions and yet when she held Bree, then Willa, and then Fergus she’d felt the same. But different. And more. It was impossible, but it happened every day.

* * *

When Jamie saw her there, she was glowing. Yes, there were dark circles under her eyes and her curls looked as if they hadn’t been brushed in a week, but joy radiated from her. Bree splashed happily in the sink, washing dishes. Willa and Fergus were in a towel-lined laundry basket on the floor, snuggled close as if they’d been together forever. Faith was cautiously measuring a scoop of dog food into a bowl on the floor. He wife turned and caught his eye, coming to welcome him home. And Jamie had never seen anything more beautiful. This was bliss.


End file.
